A very large number of _Editiones principes_ and other early-printed
books were purchased at the sale at Amsterdam of the library of P. A.
Crevenna. The first entire Hebrew Bible, printed at Soncino in 1488, was
purchased for £43 15_s._; and Fust and Schoeffer's first _dated_ Latin
Bible (Mentz, 1462) for £127 15_s._ To enable the Library to make the
purchases of this and the preceding year, benefactions were received to
the amount of nearly £200, and upwards of £1550 were lent by various
bodies and individuals. The repayment of the loans was completed in
1795.
£120 were received for duplicates sold to Messrs. Chapman and King.
Other small receipts from similar sales are found under the years 1793,
1794 and 1804.